IEC
#1: From interview [2006]
#2: With Danny Boyle [right] - "Sunshine" [2005]
Born: 1965, Düsseldorf, Germany, as Alwin H. Küchler.
Education: National Film and Television School [NFTS], UK [graduated in 1994].
Career: Became apprenticed to a fashion photographer and learnt a lot by using a Hasselblad middle format camera with a Polaroid back. Every photograph had to be scrutinized for its lighting and composition before starting to take stills on reversal film stock. Towards the end of the apprenticeship, a friend, Jakob Claussen, who was then studying at the film school in Munich, asked him to shoot one of his film school exercises. When Claussen showed him the edited result Kuchler became hooked on filmmaking. At 25 he was lucky enough to get offered a place at the NFTS. He found his vocation and a wife. He also met Lynne Ramsay and started working with her on her short films. It was Lynne who gave him his first big break on the film 'Ratcatcher'.
Ph music videos. Ph numerous commercials dir by Ashley King [for Nokia], Jeff Thomas [for Sony], Tom Pollack [for Stella Artois], Frank Budgen [for Reebok (2001)], Sara Sugarman [for Eurostar], Peter Cattaneo [for Kit Kat], Peter Thwaites [for Ford], Patrick Senn, Ringan Ledwidge [for Levis], Juan Cabral [for Sony (2009)], a.o.
Married to dir Ngozi Onwurah [1998-present].
Awards: Les Lutins du Court Métrage 'Best Cinematography Award' nom [1998] for 'Gasman'; British Independent Film Award 'Most Promising Newcomer' [1999] for 'Ratcatcher'; BSFC Award '3rd place' [2000] & Valladolid IFF Award [2001] for 'The Claim'; Dinard British FF 'Kodak Award for Best Cinematography' [2002], British Independent Film Award [2002], Stockholm IFF 'Best Cinematography' [2002] & European Film Award nom [2002] for 'Morvern Callar'; British Television Advertising Awards 'Craft Award' nom [2002] for 'Reebok' [commercial dir by Frank Budgen]; European Film Award nom [2004; shared] for 'Code 46'
Website: Alwin Küchler
FILMS | |
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1986 |
Hafenklang [Jakob Claussen] c; music video/3m; prod HFFM |
1987 |
Finger [Jakob Claussen] c; short/7m; prod HFFM |
1989 |
Hüte [Jakob Claussen] c; music video/3m; prod HFFM |
1989 |
Musik [Jakob Claussen] c; mus doc/?m; prod HFFM |
1991 |
Flying Colours [Sean Geoghegan] 16mm/c; short/5m; prod NFTS; also aired as ep of ITV's 'First Cut'-series |
1992 |
Flight of the Swan [Ngozi Onwurah] c; short/11m |
1993 |
Welcome II the Terrordome [Ngozi Onwurah] c |
1994 |
The Shaman [Sean Geoghegan] 16mm/c; short/35m; prod NFTS |
1994 |
Siren Spirits [seg (19m) 'White Men Are Cracking Up' dir by Ngozi Onwurah & seg (20m) 'Get Me to the Crematorium on Time' dir by Dani Williamson] b&w-c; comp of 4 shorts; other dir: Pratibha Parmar ('Memsahib Rita') & Frances-Anne Solomon ('Bideshi') |
1995 |
Small Deaths [Lynne Ramsay] c; short/11m; cph: L. Ramsay; prod NFTS |
1995 |
Soprano (Synchro Year 3) [Dani Williamson] BetaSP/c; mus doc/8m |
1995 |
The Desired Number [Ngozi Onwurah] c; doc/28m; ep (Nigeria) of 3-part series 'Women's Lives and Choices'; other ep: 'Ventre Livre/Freeing the Womb/Liberation' (d: Ana Luiza Azevedo; Brazil) & 'Rishte/Relationships' (d: Manjira Datta; India); prod for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation |
1996 |
Kill the Day [Lynne Ramsay] 16mm-35bu/c; short/19m; ph field seq: Tom Townend |
1996 |
The Baptism [Christos Georgiou] 16mm/c; short/20m; addph; ph: Roman Osin |
1997 |
Gasman [Lynne Ramsay] c; short/15m; prod for BBC Scotland |
1998 |
Ratcatcher [Lynne Ramsay] c; 2uc: Thomas Townend & Nick Barrett |
1998 |
Vacuum [Teresa McCann] c; short/6m |
2000 |
The Claim [Michael Winterbottom] s35/c; 2uc: Dean Bennett |
2000 |
Hang Time [Ngozi Onwurah] c; short/26m; also part of comp 'Mama Africa' (2001; 156m) |
2000 |
Lucky Break [Peter Cattaneo] c; 2uc: Adam Suschitzky |
2001 |
Morvern Callar [Lynne Ramsay] c; 2uc: Thomas Townend |
2001 |
Heartlands [Damien O'Donnell] c |
2002 |
The Mother [Roger Michell] s16-35bu/c; 2uc: Thomas Townend |
2003 |
Code 46 [Michael Winterbottom] s35/c; cph: Marcel Zyskind; 2uc (dv): Anne Marie Lean-Vercoe; 3uc (dv): Roger Eaton & Sebastian Sharples |
2003 |
Proof [John Madden] s35/c; 2uc: Jake Polonsky (UK) & Alan Thatcher (Chicago) |
2005 |
Sunshine [Danny Boyle] Hawk Scope+s35+65mm-to-35mm scope/c; 2uc: Peter Talbot; model ph: Stuart Galloway |
2006 |
A Portrait of London [seg dir by Ngozi Onwurah] dv/c; comp of several 5-minute 'digital postcards' shown on 27 October in Trafalgar Square celebrating the 50th London Film Festival |
2007 |
Saturday's Shadow [Nick Gordon] c; short/10m |
2008 |
Largo al factotum (di Gioacchino Rossini) [Dougal Wilson] b&w; commercial/4m25s; for English National Opera |
2008 |
Solitary Man [Brian Koppelman & David Levien] s35-to-35mm/c |
2009 |
Morning Glory [Roger Michell] p (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Frank DeMarco; aph: Phil Pastuhov |
2010 |
Marley [Kevin Macdonald] s35+s16+HD (Canon EOS 5D)-to-35mm (+ D-Cinema)/c; mus doc/145m; cph: Mike Eley & Wally Pfister; addph: Jess Hall, Jean-Luc Perréard & Masanobu Takayanagi; 2uc: Peter Emery; announced in 2008 with Martin Scorsese as dir and in 2009 with dir Jonathan Demme; released in 2012 |
"Hanna" - photo by Alex Bailey
2010 |
Hanna [Joe Wright] s35+HD (Sony HXR-MC1P & PMW-350)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Martin Kenzie & (Finland) Tuomo Hutri; Marine unit ph (New York): David Knox |
2011 |
R.I.P.D. [Robert Schwentke] HD (ARRI ALEXA)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema [also 3-D version])/c; 2uc: Gary Capo; uncred aph: Steve Koster; addph element unit: Tony Cutrono; uncred time lapse ph: Colin Rich |
2013 |
Divergent [Neil Burger] HD (ARRI ALEXA M & Plus)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; addph (Los Angeles): Don Burgess; 2uc: Paul Hughen & Jake Polonsky; aph: John Trapman (2u) & Hans Bjerno (Los Angeles); uwph: Peter Zuccarini |
2015 |
Steve Jobs [Danny Boyle] s35+s16+HD (ARRI ALEXA XT/scope)+RED Epic Dragon-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c |
2016 |
One More Time with Feeling [Andrew Dominik] RED Epic Dragon/b&w-c/2-D & 3-D; mus doc/113m; cph: Benoît Debie |
TELEVISION | |
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1990 |
Who Stole the Soul? [Ngozi Onwurah] doc/30m; ep BBC-tv series 'Birthrights' |
1992 |
And Still I Rise [Ngozi Onwurah] doc/30m; ep BBC-tv series 'Birthrights' |
1992 |
Monday's Girls [Ngozi Onwurah] doc/47m/16mm; ep BBC-tv series 'Under the Sun' |
1994 |
Beyond the Veil [Ngozi Onwurah] doc/30m |
1994 |
Fathers, Sons & Unholy Ghosts [Danny Thompson] tvm/11m; cph: Oliver Curtis |
1995 |
London Bridge [24 ep dir by various] 237-part soap series, 1996-99; 2nd season, 1996-97 (99 ep) |
1995 |
Looking for Love [Lucy Pilkington] doc/30m |
1995 |
Benin-Tales [Ngozi Onwurah] dram doc/30m |
1995 |
Behind the Mask [Ngozi Onwurah] dram doc/29m; ep 6-part BBC-tv series 'Hidden Empire' |
1996 |
I Bring You Frankincense [Ngozi Onwurah] tvm/32m/16mm; ep 4-part BBC-tv series 'Crucial Tales' |
1996 |
Spiders and Flies [Danny Thompson] tvm/29m/16mm; ep 4-part BBC-tv series 'Crucial Tales' |
1997 |
Sunny's Ears [Jane Prowse] 4-part children's series; for ITV |
1998 |
Hungry [Richard Clark] tvm/24m; ep Channel 4 series 'Acts of Passion' |
1999 |
One Day in September [Kevin Macdonald] doc/b&w-c/94m; cph: Neve Cunningham; ep BBC-tv series 'Storyville'; also released theatrically |
1999 |
In a Land of Plenty [Hettie MacDonald (ep #1-5) & David Moore (ep #6-10)] 10-part series, 2001; filmed April-December |
2000 |
Wingspan [Alistair Donald] doc/120m; cph: Julian Court, Richard Numeroff & Adam Suschitzky |
2003 |
The Deal [Stephen Frears] tvm |
MISCELLANEOUS | |
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2001 |
28 Days Later.../29 Days Later [Danny Boyle] mdv+8mm+35mm-to-35mm/c; co-thanks; ph: Anthony Dod Mantle |